2) Genuine content: Please limit your posts that really have something to say. If you are pasting something from elsewhere, please be sure to specifty the source (name, URL, that sort of thing). If you do not have the source, please explain why.

3) WE SEEK TRUTH. Not to profit or be a prophet, but to seek the truth. If the facts prove us wrong, we change our minds.

4) Given the nature of WW3 and the generally low level of understanding of Islam in our culture, it is natural that there will be many pieces about Islam. Some of them will be negative. Some of them will be positive. ALL of them are to be in search of truth. If you disagree with something that someone else prints, the answer is to persuade with Reason and Reality.

5) Before starting a new thread, please look to see if your post logically fits in an existing thread. The more we maintain thread coherence, the more these threads become valuable as repositories of info and intel.

No doubt I well be editing and amending these rules as time goes by, but for the moment these will do.

6) If you are cross-current or even against the general currents of thinking around here, we encourage you to participate. Remember, the mission here is to search for TRUTH. Chattering class shoutfests on TV are NOT the model here. The model is that of gracious conversation after dinner where everyone at the table is assumed to be bright, educated and thoughtful and Reason is the mode of discourse.

We will be re-naming the forum to something reflects the true range of our interests. My friend from OP Gene suggests "Culture, Economics, Investing, Politics, Religion, Science, Technology, and More" which, although a tad unweildy, does communicate the gist of it

Anyone have something to suggest which would convey this a bit more concisely?

We are blessed with a richness of specializations, but cursed with a paucity of panoptic disciplines-categories of knowledge that concentrate on seeing the pattern that emerges when one views all the sciences at once. Hence we need a field dedicated to the panoramic, an academic base for the promiscuously curious, a discipline whose mandate is best summed up in a paraphrase of the poet Andrew Marvel: Let us roll all our strength and all Our knowledge up into one ball, And tear our visions with rough strife Through the iron gates of life.

Omnology is a science, but one dedicated to the biggest picture conceivable by the minds of its practitioners. Omnology will use every conceptual tool available-and some not yet invented but inventible-to leapfrog over disciplinary barriers, stitching together the patchwork quilt of science and all the rest that humans can yet know. If one omnologist is able to perceive the relationship between pop songs, ancient Egyptian graffiti, Shirley MacLaine's mysticism, neurobiology, and the origins of the cosmos, so be it. If another uses mathematics to probe traffic patterns, the behavior of insect colonies, and the manner in which galaxies cluster in swarms, wonderful. And if another uses introspection to uncover hidden passions and relate them to research in chemistry, anthropology, psychology, history, and the arts, she, too, has a treasured place on the wild frontiers of scientific truth-the terra incognita in the heartland of omnology.

Let me close with the words of yet another poet, William Blake, on the ultimate goal of omnology:

To see a World in a Grain of SandAnd a Heaven in a Wild Flower,Hold Infinity in the palm of your handAnd Eternity in an hour.

Now that I've mulled things a bit it strikes me that things around here boil down to "Martial Arts" and "Martial Mindset." One is about the actual application of martial arts, while the other is about the foundation from which those arts are applied. Perhaps there is a better term, and I may be presuming that the powers that be do want posts that aren't about martial arts to be about their intellecutual foundations to some degree, but that's how things break down as I see it.

Rule #7)? When your post is a "cut and paste" please introduce it with a couple of sentences of your own as to why you are sharing it here. Also, it would be nice if you took a moment to put the title of your post in the Subject header as well, so as to facilitate someone searching for it down the road.

This matter of facilitating searches is why we look for thread coherency around here. There's a lot of quality posts and we aspire for this forum to become a bit of a research resource.

I like this board having come from Ourpiazza. I am disappointed I don't (appear) to see others from there as well.

One difference is that the posts on this board are very long. Many are posts of long pieces or lectures. They are extremely informative but take a long time to read. I wonder if some of the old posters from ourpiazza miss the more succinct posts there.

Nonetheless, I find it educational to read many of the posts here and appreciate the opportunity.

I agree to some extent. The format is a little hard for me to adjust to. Clicking on the '10 most recent posts' seems to give a glimpse of the current discussion. I have been reading, but slow to dive in. I started that way on OP as well.

Many posts here are worthwhile readings. The best to me are the personal exchanges on the issues of the day.

Hang in there. Maybe we find a few other familiar faces and get to know the rest better as well.

We get hit several HUNDRED times a day with spambots trying to register so they can spam up the forums. As part of deleting all this, sometimes real humans get deleted too. So if you are having trouble getting registered, please email Cindy at info@dogbrothers.com

Hello, all. I am here at the invitation of Marc/Crafty Dog. I am new and I just thought I should give an explanation of my name. I selected the name LawDog after my law school intramural sports team. I have been using it in another forum, and just kept it here for consistency, not because I am part of the Dog Brothers. Based upon the quick skimming I have done, I am looking forward to some good reading.

As we complete our 20th year of the Dog Brothers, on April 4, 5, and 6 some 20 odd members of the Tribe plus a few friends will be getting together at a secret location to re-enact the Creation of the Dog Brothers, known in our lore as "The Rumble at Ramblas" wherein those there fought for three days.

I have no idea how much posting I will be doing here during this time.

The Adventure continues,Crafty DogGuidiing Force of the Dog Brothers

PS: We are shooting this with an eye to making a movie along the lines of "Pumping Iron meets Tao of the Dog Brothers"

I would us to remember the rule of the road about friends having a good conversation after dinner. IMHO recently most of us (including me) have tended towards pasting articles of interest. We have a good crew here and these articles of interest indeed are interesting, but I would sure like seeing more commentary and conversation as part of the mix.

By Jeanette ColvilleConstruction sites warn drivers of danger ahead, proceed with caution. Cyber sites have now become hazardous terrain at reader forums, and it bodes well for readers at American Thinker to be aware of the often elusive pitfalls of Trolls at Work.

What is a Troll, you ask? According to Scandinavian folklore,

"... a Troll is ‘an obnoxious creature bent on mischief and wickedness' who lives in hiding under a bridge, ready to strike fear and chaos is the hearts of innocents passing by."

Transplanted from a home under a bridge to the cyber world, a Troll

"is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum... with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional or disciplinary response, or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion."

And in the case of a politically conservative web site like American Thinker, the goal is often to "to attempt to disrupt the dissemination of a story, and to demoralize the people who wish to see the story disseminated," in the words of AT reader Lucius Vorenus.

Hmmm? Starting to ring a bell? Modern day Trollism reveals an amazing cast of characters in the World of the Troll. Researchers point out that the virtual world of the Internet frees the Trolls from earthly bonds of body and identity, giving them the power to fly like Peter Pan from the crack of dawn to the Witching Hour. There are no restrictions of time or place. Armed with a laptop and Wi-Fi, an array of Trolls appear around the clock, stealthily plotting to disrupt, disorient, irritate, insult, fool, deceive, and trick the minds of innocent victims in reader forums. Beware, Trolls at Work.

American Thinker articles and blogs invite readers to join the discussion. The accepted mindset is one of a civil, open, and honest exchange of opinions and thoughts. And yes, this is what the majority of readers believe without a second thought. Ah hah! Try telling that to the Trolls. And who are these creatures?

Researchers identify one strain of Troll as the "Internet personality disorder Troll,"which is

"characterized by attention-seeking and disruptive behavior in anonymous places. This Troll is easily identified by a variety of traits including a high rating on the charisma score that demands attention from all other forum participants, and establishes dominance in a thread." In other words, the forum is "all about me - I am the center of the universe and the discussion."

Another strain of Troll is the individual seeking the illusion of power. A guide to Trolls on flayme.com states:

"trolls are sad people, living their lonely lives vicariously through those they see as strong and successful. Disrupting a stable newsgroup gives the illusion of power... and allows them to think they are strong, too. For trolls, any response is recognition; they are unable to distinguish between irritation and admiration; their ego grows directly in proportion to the response, regardless of the form or content of that response."

Other red flags for the novice Troll hunter are: off topic posting, never answering a direct question, and posting extreme pedantic comments. Watch also for the presentation of irrelevant facts to disrupt the discussion flow, and the ruthless targeting of new forum participants.

American Thinker is a magnet for another strain of Troll, the finely tuned and highly skilled political opposition infiltrator. No psycho basket case here -- this is the high-stakes, professional Great White Troll shark, sometimes a volunteer opposition advocate and other times (I strongly suspect) on the opposition payroll. The goal: search and destroy. How? With sweet words of "concern," with knee-cap crushing attacks, or with a strategy of "I'm one of you, but... "

Forewarned is forearmed - know your enemy. Tolls come in many forms. The "Concerned Troll" hopes to "sow fear, uncertainty and doubt within the group. Others speak in reasoned and dulcet tones in the hope of shifting the discussion from inflammatory issues about the Obama administration and Congress. Some come like snow-white sheep, introducing themselves as a conservative friend, or a newborn convert.

A few examples of various troll types:

The Concerned Troll

"I feel bad for Sarah, really. She does have promise but she was thrust into the spotlight way too early and she simply wasn't ready...""There's no denying Sarah was dealt some tough cards. She had a left-leaning MSM that was out to put a dagger in her candidacy from day one. Instead of playing the hand she was dealt, she folded. Sarah couldn't stand the heat and so she left the kitchen... we absolutely need fresh moral leadership. We'll never get it from a quitter."Speak Softly While Manipulating a Change of Focus

I don't like Obama's policies anymore than you do, but as an undergrad law student I have to tell you that this case has had its day in court and the court has ruled that Obama is a US Citizen. I think it's time for us to move on to more substantive issues.

I'm One of You

As one of the newly reformed liberals who finally left all the hate I recently found in Obamaland, I feel forced to remind you all of all the hatred and fear of terrorism Bush exploited... driven by the conservatives finding a way to exploit hate."Great article! The only answer to the problem is for more conservatives like us...Trolls have no desire to stimulate or further a discussion, but only to manipulate and control it. Attention is what fuels the garden variety of Trolls. The more they get, the harder it is to eradicate them from an honest debate. They are short on facts, and long on mind control and the dissemination of misinformation, i.e. lies.

The consensus among experienced victims of the Troll flu in defending the integrity of a web site from an epidemic invasion is to ignore the Troll. For a Troll to be ignored is equal to not watering your avocado plant in your kitchen window. Eventually, it will dry up and wither away. Wisegeek.com advises us, "Trolls often use fallacious arguments or attack the members of the discussion thread when they attempt to defend themselves" from the Troll's ad hominem attacks. This is another reason not to feed the beast with a response.

American Thinker readers are alert and experienced at Troll detection. Many identify a Troll by name and advise others in the discussion to ignore this infiltrator who actively tries to hijack the tread and break the flow of discussion by initiating a cross-fire dynamic with one other participant, affectively shutting others out who fear getting "in the middle" which is the goal of the Troll. When this happens, the Troll has succeeded in their strategy.

Why does it bode well to be alert for Trolls in your cyber neighborhood? To survive we must protect the perimeters of our conservative thinking and web site community. We must make sure that the clever and devious individuals whose goal is to create disorder and to block the dissemination of facts, information, and truth do not pollute and shackle our thinking.

If you are a naturally trusting person and fear that an unconscious slacking off of Troll awareness may sneak over you, try posting a small banner at the top of your computer screen with the warning: "Please do not feed the Trolls."

I am very proud to announce that our own BBG is under consideration for a pundit job at a newspaper of international reknown. Of course there are many, many other folks under consideration and the process is long. Therefore we will not be seeing much of him around here for a number of weeks.